Motherhood, a new performance piece by artist Suzanne Bocanegra, premieres Friday and Saturday at McCullough Theatre. Texas Performing Arts commissioned the work in part. The show treats motherhood as a political state of being and looks at topics including the history of orphanages, infertility and how society has valued raising children.
Bocanegra uses a "voice-in-ear technique" to feed lines to her son, actor Judah Lang, who repeats them to the audience. Lang said performing his mother's words has given him a new view of motherhood. "Life is really cool and really sad," he said. "And motherhood is really cool, but also really hard." This is Lang's first time performing with his mother.
Director Claudia Zelevansky said Bocanegra asked her to help with the show after the two met at the Mercury Store, a Brooklyn organization that helps theater directors and choreographers develop new work. Zelevansky said Bocanegra's visible presence in the corner of the stage reminds the audience that the performance is an active process.